The vast majority of the county’s primary schools are classed as “good” or “outstanding” according to the Ofsted grade system being phased out by the Labour government.

Nearly 81% (372 out of 460) were in the top two brackets, new figures show.

No school in Kent was classified as “inadequate” by the education watchdog while just 31 were deemed to “require improvement”.

Inspectors carried out inspections of 127 schools in the 2023/24 period of which 11 were rated “outstanding”.

They were: Leigh Hartley (Dartford); Queenborough (Swale); Sheldwich (Swale); Adisham CofE (Canterbury), Jubilee (Maidstone); and St Mary of Charity (Swale); Cobham (Gravesend); Herne CofE Junior (Canterbury); Hernhill CofE (Canterbury), Kings Hill (Tonbridge & Malling) and Rodmersham (Swale).

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced in September that single-word Ofsted grades are to be scrapped and replaced by a “school report card” system because she feels they are unfair.

The move was attacked by Kent County Council (KCC) education chief Cllr Rory Love as “deeply shameful” because he claimed it would harm parents’ ability to choose the right schools for their children.

Across Kent 54 primaries are graded “outstanding” and 318 are “good”.

Among the good schools recently assessed are: St Peter’s Catholic PC (Swale); Horizon (Sevenoaks); Leigh Dartford (Dartford); Valley Invicta Holborough (Tonbridge & Malling); Valley Invicta Kings Hill (Tonbridge & Malling; Valley Invicta Leybourne Chase (Tonbridge & Malling); Westgate (Dartford); Cage Green (Tonbridge & Malling); Dartford Bridge (Dartford); St Katherine’s (Tonbridge & Malling); Sunny Bank (Swale); Holy Family Catholic (Maidstone) and Tiger Free School (Maidstone).

Education expert Peter Read, who compiled the figures from official statistics, said: “Let us celebrate that not a single one of Kent’s 460 primary schools has an ‘inadequate’ rating at its latest graded inspection, including those that have converted to become academies and have not been inspected since.”

But Mr Read said he is unsure how the new report card system will work as details have so far been scant.

He added: “I think the previous system worked well and people who wanted to know more than the headline could go and get the full report to get more detail if they wanted to.

“It’s the parents who come first in my book.”

Cllr Love told KCC colleagues recently that schools across the primary, secondary and special needs sectors were performing above the national average

He added: “In a nutshell, while local government is working towards transparency and data, the new Labour central government is concealing from parents information that helps shape their choices of school for their children and I think that it is deeply shameful.”

The single word Ofsted grading came under intense scrutiny after the suicide of Ruth Perry, head of Caversham Primary School near Reading, in January 2023 after being told it was being downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.

Mrs Phillipson said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear. The removal of headline grades is a generational reform and a landmark moment for children, parents, and teachers.

“Single headline grades are low information for parents and high stakes for schools. Parents deserve a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing – that’s what our report cards will provide.

“This government will make inspection a more powerful, more transparent tool for driving school improvement. We promised change, and now we are delivering.”